


to hold infinity

by imposterhuman



Series: angsty post-endgame drabbles [6]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Canon Compliant, Other, Sentient Infinity Stones, Tony Feels, Tony Needs a Hug, Tony-centric, tony uses the gauntlet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-08
Updated: 2019-05-08
Packaged: 2020-02-28 08:03:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18752329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imposterhuman/pseuds/imposterhuman
Summary: Don't waste your life, Stark.Tony knew what was going to happen the second Thanos put the Gauntlet on his hand.





	to hold infinity

**Author's Note:**

> ENDGAME SPOILERS ENDGAME SPOILERS ENDGAME SPOILERS
> 
> yep still dying
> 
> enjoy this pain

_ Don’t waste your life, Stark. _

 

Tony knew what was going to happen the second Thanos put the Gauntlet on his hand. Knew what he was going to do. It didn’t make it any easier, though.

 

Thanos was cocky, overconfident as he twirled the Gauntlet on his wrist. Tony flew forward in an attack, the nanites in his suit calling to the nanites in the Gauntlet. Thanos didn’t notice, not as he was swatting Tony like a bug. He was grinning like he had already won.

 

“I am inevitable,” he declared, raising his hand in the air. He snapped his fingers.

 

Nothing happened.

 

If he wasn’t about to die, Tony would have cackled at the look on Thanos’s face. The Titan was a mix of confused and angry as he flipped his hand to stare at it.

 

(Thanos had forgotten, then, who he was fighting and what he was fighting with. He was using a piece of Tony, a Gauntlet forged by Tony’s own hands, against its creator. Tony would’ve laughed at that arrogance, too, if the situation hadn't been so dire.)

 

Instead, he raised his arm. His face was set, determination resonating in his bones. On his arm, the nanites had shifted to cradle the Infinity Stones, a makeshift Gauntlet of his own. 

 

Pain was racing up his arm like fire, worse than anything he’d ever felt, worse than caves and wormholes and shields to the chest, but he kept his teeth clenched even as he burned. The Stones hated being contained, he could feel it in their rage against every atom of his body. They screamed their discontent, taking it out on his flesh. He didn’t know how Bruce or Thanos had managed it; it felt like dying. 

 

More than the pain, he didn’t know how they dealt with the  _ knowledge _ . The Stones, between them, were infinity. Everything that ever was and ever would be was written in them; all he had to do was ask. He could rewrite reality, make it so his daughter grew up in a world without fear and anger and hate. He could do whatever he wanted.

 

_ All you have to do is will it _ , the Stones whispered, insidious yellow and blue. Formulas for science that no one had yet discovered filled his vision, advancements that would help people beyond what he could wrote themselves on his skin.  _ Whatever you want, it can be _ .

 

He shoved aside the visions they were sending him, of better times with his family. Morgan danced in shades of red, older than she was (and older than he’d ever see her). Pepper’s laugh was green, her hair lighter and face lined by time. 

 

_ I don’t want that from you,  _ he swore, forcing the Stones to listen to him. Everything they were showing him would be a lie if he didn’t succeed.  _ I don’t want anything from you but the end of this war.  _

 

It almost felt like the Stones were laughing at him in shades of purple and orange. TItan replayed, his own devastation in the face of Thanos’s power. Peter broke into dust in his arms, tinted orange.  _ You want death. You want destruction. You  _ want.  _ What do you  _ give _? _

 

_ I  _ want  _ to save my universe from annihilation,  _ Tony thought angrily. He had always known it would come back to this; Tony Stark, Merchant of Death.  _ And I’m willing to pay the price.  _

 

_ If you free us now, you won’t have to,  _ they told him, burning bright in his hand.  _ You could go home. _

 

Tony squeezed his eyes shut.  _ There is no home if we lose.  _

 

_ Very well,  _ the Stones gentled, a raging thunderstorm to a drizzle. The world slowed as Tony opened his eyes to stare Thanos in the face. 

 

_ Win this war,  _ he told the Stones.  _ Save my universe. _

 

“And I-” he gritted out, holding onto Morgan’s smiling face, Pepper’s laugh, Peter’s hugs. “-am-” the world narrowed to just him and Thanos. With effort, he drew his fingers closer together. Fear flickered in Thanos’s eyes. If it wasn’t taking all of his effort to stay standing, Tony might’ve grinned like a shark. There was pure power coursing through his veins, like liquid flame. His whole body was glowing with it, was shaking apart at its seams. But still, he stood, he touched his middle finger to his thumb. “- _ Iron Man. _ ”

 

_ Don’t waste it. _

 

Tony snapped his fingers.

**Author's Note:**

> wish your girl luck on her chem ap- a little under 32 hours until she dies and shes doin this instead of studying
> 
> comments and kudos make me smile!
> 
> catch me on tumblr: https://imposter-human.tumblr.com/


End file.
